This first part of 826 pages, which appeared in 1910, represents the latest important research work on the origin of Luther"s Catechisms. In its preface R. Drescher says: "The writings of 1529 to 1530, in their totality were a difficult mountain, and it gives us particular joy finally to have surmounted it. And the most difficult and laborious part of the way, at least in view of the comprehensive treatment it was to receive, was the publication of the Large and the Small Catechism, including the three series of Catechism Sermons. ... The harvest which was garnered fills a large volume of our edition."
82. Meaning of the Word Catechism.
The term _catechismus_ (catechism), like its related terms, _catechesis, catechizari, catechumeni,_ was common in the ancient Church. In his _Glossarium,_ Du Cange defines it as "_inst.i.tutio puerorum etiam recens natorum, ante quam baptizentur_--the instruction of children, also those recently born, before their baptism." The synonymous expression, _catechesis,_ he describes as "_inst.i.tutio primorum fidei Christianae rudimentorum, de quibus kateceseis suas scripsit S. Cyrillus Jerusolymita.n.u.s_--instruction in the first rudiments of the Christian faith, about which St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote his catechizations." (2, 222f.) Also Luther was acquainted with this usage in the ancient Church.
He began his Catechism sermon of November 30, 1528, with the words: "These parts which you heard me recite the old Fathers called catechism, _i.e._, a sermon for children which children should know and all who desire to be Christians." (Weimar 30, 1, 57.) At first Luther seems to have employed the term but seldom; later on, however, especially after 1526, more frequently. Evidently he was bent on popularizing it. Between the Preface and the Decalog of the first Wittenberg book edition of the Small Catechism we find the t.i.tle, "A Small Catechism or Christian Training--_Ein kleiner Katechismus oder christliche Zucht._" No doubt, Luther added the explanation "christliche Zucht" because the word catechism had not yet become current among the people. May 18, 1528, he began his sermon with the explanation: "_Catechismus dicitur instructio_ --Catechism is instruction"; likewise the sermon of September 14: "Catechism, _i.e._, an instruction or Christian teaching," the sermon of November 30: "Catechism, _i.e._, a sermon for children." In the Preface to his Small Catechism he again explains the term as "Christian doctrine." Thus Luther endeavored to familiarize the people with the word catechism.
The meaning of this term, however, is not always the same. It may designate the act of instructing, the subject-matter or the doctrine imparted, a summary thereof, the text of the traditional chief parts, or a book containing the catechismal doctrine, text, or text with explanation. Luther used the word most frequently and preferably in the sense of instruction. This appears from the definitions quoted in the preceding paragraph, where catechism is defined as "sermon,"
"instruction," "Christian training," etc. "You have the catechism" (the doctrine), says Luther, "in small and large books." Bugenhagen defines thus: "Katechismus, dat is, christlike underrichtinge ut den teyn gebaden Gades." In the Apology, Melanchthon employs the word catechism as identical with _kathechesis puerorum,_ instruction of the young in the Christian fundamentals. (324, 41.) "Accordingly," says O. Albrecht, "catechism means elementary instruction in Christianity, conceived, first, as the act; then, as the material for instruction; then, as the contents of a book, and finally, as the book itself." This usage must be borne in mind also where Luther speaks of his own Catechisms. "German Catechism" means instruction in, or preaching on, the traditional chief parts in the German language. And while "Enchiridion" signifies a book of small compa.s.s, the t.i.tle "Small Catechism" (as appears from the old subt.i.tle: "Ein kleiner Katechismus oder christliche Zucht") means instruction in the chief parts, proceeding with compact brevity, and, at the same time, these parts themselves together with the explanations added. (W. 30, 1, 454. 539.) As the t.i.tle of a book the word catechism was first employed by Althamer in 1528, and by Brenz as the subt.i.tle of his "Questions" (_Fragestuecke_). A school-book written by John Colet in the beginning of the sixteenth century bears the t.i.tle "_Catechyzon,_ The Instructor." (456.)
Not every kind of Christian instruction, however, is called catechism by Luther. Whenever he uses the word, he has in mind beginners, children, and unlearned people. In his "German Order of Worship, _Deutsche Messe,_" of 1526, he writes: "Catechism is an instruction whereby heathen who desire to become Christians are taught and shown what they must believe, do, not do, and know in Christianity, hence the name catechumens was given to pupils who were accepted for such instruction and who learned the Creed previous to their baptism." (19, 76.) In his sermon of November 30, 1528: "The Catechism is a sermon for children, which the children and all who desire to be Christians must know.
Whoever does not know it cannot be numbered among the Christians. For if he does not know these things, it is evident that G.o.d and Christ mean nothing to him." (30, 1, 57.) In his sermon of September 14: "This [catechism] is preaching for children, or, the Bible of the laity, which serves the plain people. Whoever, then, does not know these things, and is unable to recite them and understand them, cannot be considered a Christian. It is for this reason, too, that it bears the name catechism, _i.e._, instruction and Christian teaching, since all Christians at the very least should know this much. Afterward they ought to learn more of the Scriptures. Hence, let all children govern themselves accordingly, and see that they learn it." (27.) May 18 Luther began his sermon thus: "The preaching of the Catechism was begun that it might serve as an instruction for children and the unlearned. ... For every Christian must necessarily know the Catechism. Whoever does not know it cannot be numbered among the Christians." (2.) In the short Preface to the Large Catechism: "This sermon is designed and undertaken that it might be an instruction for children and the simpleminded. Hence, of old it was called in Greek catechism, _i.e._, instruction for children, what every Christian must needs know, so that he who does not know this could not be numbered with the Christians nor be admitted to any Sacrament."
(CONC. TRIGL., 575, 1; 535, 11.)
83. Chief Parts of Catechism.
In Luther"s opinion the elementary doctrines which form the subject- matter of the Catechism are comprised in the three traditional parts: Decalog, Creed, and Lord"s Prayer. These he considered to be the gist of the doctrine every one must learn if he would be regarded and treated as a Christian. "Those who are unwilling to learn it," says Luther, "should be told that they deny Christ and are no Christians; neither should they be admitted to the Sacraments, accepted as sponsors at Baptism, nor exercise any part of Christian liberty." (CONC. TRIGL. 535, 11.) Of course, Luther considered these three parts only a minimum, which, however, Christians who partake of the Lord"s Supper should strive to exceed, but still sufficient for children and plain people. (575, 5.) Even in his later years, Luther speaks of the first three parts as the Catechism proper.
However, probably in consequence of the controversy with the Enthusiasts, which began in 1524, Luther soon added as supplements the parts treating of Baptism, the Lord"s Supper, and Confession. In the Large Catechism, where Baptism and the Lord"s Supper appear as appendices, Luther emphasizes the fact that the first three parts form the kernel of the Catechism, but that instruction in Baptism and the Lord"s Supper must also be imparted. "These" (first three), says he, "are the most necessary parts, which one should first learn to repeat word for word. ... Now, when these three parts are apprehended, it behooves a person also to know what to say concerning our Sacraments, which Christ Himself inst.i.tuted, Baptism and the holy body and blood of Christ, namely, the text which Matthew and Mark record at the close of their gospels, when Christ said farewell to His disciples and sent them forth." (579, 20.) Luther regarded a correct knowledge of Baptism and the Lord"s Supper not only as useful, but as necessary. Beginning his explanation of the Fourth Chief Part, he remarks: "We have now finished the three chief parts of the common Christian doctrine. Besides these we have yet to speak of our two Sacraments inst.i.tuted by Christ, of which also every Christian ought to have at least an ordinary, brief instruction, because without them there can be no Christian; although, alas! hitherto no instruction concerning them has been given." (733, 1.) Thus Luther materially enlarged the Catechism. True, several prayer- and confession-books, which appeared in the late Middle Ages, also treat of the Sacraments. As for the people, however, it was considered sufficient for laymen to be able to recite the names of the seven Roman sacraments.
Hence Luther, in the pa.s.sage cited from the Large Catechism, declares that in Popery practically nothing of Baptism and the Lord"s Supper was taught, certainly nothing worth while or wholesome.
84. Parts Inherited from Ancient Church.
The text of the first three chief parts, Luther considered a sacred heirloom from the ancient Church. "For," says he in his Large Catechism, "the holy Fathers or apostles have thus embraced in a summary the doctrine life, wisdom, and art of Christians, of which they speak and treat, and with which they are occupied." (579, 19.) Thus Luther, always conservative, did not reject the traditional catechism, both bag and baggage, but carefully distinguished between the good, which he retained, and the worthless, which he discarded. In fact, he no more dreamt of foisting a new doctrine or catechism on the Christian Church than he ever thought of founding a new church. On the contrary, his sole object was to restore the ancient Apostolic Church, and his catechetical endeavors were bent on bringing to light once more, purifying, explaining, and restoring, the old catechism of the fathers.
In his book _Wider Hans Worst,_ 1541, Luther says: "We have remained faithful to the true and ancient Church; aye, we are the true and ancient Church. You Papists, however, have apostatized from us, _i.e._, from the ancient Church, and have set up a new church in opposition to the ancient Church." In harmony with this view, Luther repeatedly and emphatically a.s.serted that in his Catechism he was merely protecting and guarding an inheritance of the fathers, which he had preserved to the Church by his correct explanation. In his _German Order of Worship_ we read: "I know of no simpler nor better arrangement of this instruction or doctrine than the arrangement which has existed since the beginning of Christendom, _viz._, the three parts, Ten Commandments, Creed, and the Lord"s Prayer." (W. 19, 76.) In the ancient Church the original parts for catechumens and sponsors were the _Symbolum_ and the _Paternoster,_ the Apostles" Creed and the Lord"s Prayer. To these the Ten Commandments were added as a formal part of doctrine only since the thirteenth century. (30, 1, 434.) The usual sequence of these parts was: Lord"s Prayer, Apostles" Creed, and, wherever it was not supplanted by other matter, the Decalog. It was with deliberation then, that Luther subst.i.tuted his own objective, logical order.
In his _Short Form of the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord"s Prayer,_ 1520 Luther speaks as follows of the three traditional parts, which G.o.d preserved to the Church in spite of the Papacy: "It did not come to pa.s.s without the special providence of G.o.d, that, with reference to the common Christian, who cannot read the Scriptures, it was commanded to teach and to know the Ten Commandments, Creed, and Lord"s Prayer which three parts indeed thoroughly and completely embrace all that is contained in the Scripture and may ever be preached, all also that a Christian needs to know, and this, too, in a form so brief and simple that no one can complain or offer the excuse that it is too much, and that it is too hard for him to remember what is essential to his salvation. For in order to be saved, a man must know three things: First, he must know what he is to do and leave undone. Secondly, when he realizes that by his own strength he is unable to do it and leave it undone, he must know where he may take, seek, and find that which will enable him to do and to refrain. Thirdly, he must know how he may seek and obtain it. Even as a sick man needs first of all to know what disease he has, what he may or may not do, or leave undone. Thereupon he needs to know where the medicine is which will help him, that he may do and leave undone like a healthy person. Fourthly, he must desire it, seek and get it, or have it brought to him. In like manner the commandments teach a man to know his disease, that he may see and perceive what he can do and not do, leave and not leave, and thus perceive that he is a sinner and a wicked man. Thereupon the Creed holds before his eyes and teaches him where to find the medicine, the grace which will help him become pious, that he may keep the commandments, and shows him G.o.d and His mercy as revealed and offered in Christ. Fifthly, the Lord"s Prayer teaches him how to ask for, get and obtain it, namely, by proper, humble, and comforting prayer. These three things comprise the entire Scriptures." (W. 7, 204.) It was things such as the chief parts of the Catechism that Luther had in mind when he wrote against the fanatics, 1528: "We confess that even under the Papacy there are many Christian blessings aye, all Christian blessings, and thence they have come to us: the true Holy Scriptures, true Baptism, the true Sacrament of the Altar, true keys for the forgiveness of sins, the true office of the ministry, the true catechism, such as the Lord"s Prayer, the Ten Commandments the Articles of Faith, etc." (26, 147.) Luther"s meaning is, that in the midst of antichristendom and despite the Pope, the text of the three chief parts was, among other things, preserved to the Church.
85. Service Rendered Catechism by Luther.
The fact that the text of the three chief parts existed long before Luther does not detract from the service which he rendered the Catechism. Luther"s work, moreover, consisted in this, 1. that he brought about a general revival of the instruction in the Catechism of the ancient Church; 2. that he completed it by adding the parts treating of Baptism, Confession, and the Lord"s Supper; 3. that he purged its material from all manner of papal ballast; 4. that he eliminated the Romish interpretation and adulteration in the interest of work-righteousness; 5. that he refilled the ancient forms with their genuine Evangelical and Scriptural meaning. Before Luther"s time the study of the Catechism had everywhere fallen into decay. There were but few who knew its text, and when able to recite it, they did not understand it. The soul of all Christian truths, the Gospel of G.o.d"s free pardon for Christ"s sake, had departed. Concerning "the three parts which have remained in Christendom from of old" Luther said that "little of it had been taught and treated correctly." (CONC. TRIGL. 575, 6.)
In his _Warning to My Dear Germans,_ of 1531, he enlarges on the same thought as follows; "Thanks to G.o.d, our Gospel has produced much and great good. Formerly no one knew what was Gospel, what Christ, what Baptism, what Confession, what Sacrament, what faith, what spirit, what flesh, what good works, what the Ten Commandments, what the Lord"s Prayer, what praying, what suffering, what comfort, what civil government, what matrimony, what parents, what children, what lords, what servant, what mistress what maid, what devil, what angel, what world, what life, what death, what sin, what right, what forgiveness of sin, what G.o.d, what bishop, what pastor, what Church, what a Christian, what the cross. Sum, we knew nothing of what a Christian should know.
Everything was obscured and suppressed by the papal a.s.ses. For in Christian matters they are a.s.ses indeed, aye, great, coa.r.s.e, unlearned a.s.ses. For I also was one of them and know that in this I am speaking the truth. And all pious hearts who were captive under the Pope, even as I, will bear me out that they would fain have known one of these things, yet were not able nor permitted to know it. We knew no better than that the priests and monks alone were everything; on their works we based our hope of salvation and not on Christ. Thanks to G.o.d, however, it has now come to pa.s.s that man and woman, young and old, know the Catechism, and how to believe, live, pray, suffer, and die; and that is indeed a splendid instruction for consciences, teaching them how to be a Christian and to know Christ." (W. 30, 3, 317.)
Thus Luther extols it as the great achievement of his day that now every one knew the Catechism, whereas formerly Christian doctrine was unknown or at least not understood aright. And this achievement is preeminently a service which Luther rendered. He revived once more the ancient catechetical parts of doctrine, placed them in the proper Biblical light, permeated them with the Evangelical spirit, and explained them in conformity with the understanding of the Gospel which he had gained anew, stressing especially the _finis historiae_ (the divine purpose of the historical facts of Christianity, as recorded in the Second Article), the forgiveness of sins not by works of our own, but by grace, for Christ"s sake.
86. Catechetical Instruction before Luther.
In the Middle Ages the Lord"s Prayer and the Creed were called the chief parts for sponsors (_Patenhauptstuecke_), since the canons required sponsors to know them, and at Baptism they were obligated to teach these parts to their G.o.dchildren. The children, then, were to learn the Creed and the Lord"s Prayer from their parents and sponsors. Since the Carolingian Epoch these regulations of the Church were often repeated, as, for example, in the _Exhortation to the Christian Laity_ of the ninth century. From the same century dates the regulation that an explanation of the Creed and the Lord"s Prayer should be found in every parish, self-evidently to facilitate preaching and the examination in confession. In confession, which, according to the Lateran Council, 1215, everybody was required to make at least once a year, the priests were to inquire also regarding this instruction and have the chief parts recited. Since the middle of the thirteenth century the Creed, the Lord"s Prayer, together with the Benedicite, Gratias, Ave Maria, Psalms, and other matter, were taught also in the Latin schools, where probably Luther, too, learned them. In the _Instruction for Visitors,_ Melanchthon still mentions "der Kinder Handbuechlein, darin das Alphabet, Vaterunser, Glaub" und andere Gebet" innen stehen--Manual for Children, containing the alphabet, the Lord"s Prayer, the Creed, and other prayers," as the first schoolbook. (W. 26, 237.) After the invention of printing, chart-impressions with pictures ill.u.s.trating the Creed, the Lord"s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments came into the possession also of some laymen. The poorer cla.s.ses, however, had to content themselves with the charts in the churches, which especially Nicolaus of Cusa endeavored to introduce everywhere. (Herzog"s _Realenzyklopaedie_ 10, 138.) They were followed by confessional booklets, prayer-booklets, and also by voluminous books of devotion.
Apart from other trash, these contained confessional and communion prayers instructions on Repentance, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar; above all, however, a mirror of sins, intended as a guide for self-examination, on the basis of various lists of sins and catalogs of virtues, which supplanting the Decalog were to be memorized.
Self-evidently, all this was not intended as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ and to faith in the free grace of G.o.d, but merely to serve the interest of the Romish penances, satisfactions, and work-righteousness. Says Luther in the Smalcald Articles: "Here, too, there was no faith nor Christ, and the virtue of the absolution was not declared to him, but upon his enumeration of sins and his self-abas.e.m.e.nt depended his consolation. What torture, rascality, and idolatry such confession has produced is more than can be related." (485, 20.) The chief parts of Christian doctrine but little taught and nowhere correctly taught,--such was the chief hurt of the Church under the Papacy.
In the course of time, however, even this deficient and false instruction gradually fell into decay. The influence of the Latin schools was not very far-reaching, their number being very small in proportion to the young. Public schools for the people did not exist in the Middle Ages. As a matter of fact not a single synod concerned itself specifically with the instruction of the young. (_H. R._ 10, 137.) At home, parents and sponsors became increasingly indifferent and incompetent for teaching. True, the reformers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries did attempt to elevate the instruction also in the Catechism. Geiler"s sermons on the Lord"s Prayer were published. Gerson admonished: "The reformation of the Church must begin with the young,"
and published sermons on the Decalog as models for the use of the clergy. John Wolf also urged that the young be instructed, and endeavored to subst.i.tute the Decalog for the prevalent catalogs of sins.
The Humanists John Wimpheling, Erasmus, and John Colet (who wrote the _Catechyzon,_ which Erasmus rendered into Latin hexameters) urged the same thing. Peter Tritonius Athesinus wrote a similar book of instruction for the Latin schools. However, all of these attempts proved ineffectual, and even if successful, they would have accomplished little for truly Christian instruction, such as Luther advocated, since the real essence of Christianity, the doctrine of justification, was unknown to these reformers.
Thus in the course of time the people, and especially the young, grew more and more deficient in the knowledge of even the simplest Christian truths and facts. And bishops and priests, unconcerned about the ancient canons, stolidly looked on while Christendom was sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of total religious ignorance and indifference.
Without fearing contradiction, Melanchthon declared in his Apology: "Among the adversaries there is no catechization of the children whatever, concerning which even the canons give commands. ... Among the adversaries, in many regions [as in Italy and Spain], during the entire year no sermons are delivered, except in Lent." (325, 41.)
87. Medieval Books of Prayer and Instruction.
Concerning the aforementioned Catholic books of prayer and edification which, during the Middle Ages, served the people as catechisms, Luther, in his Prayer-Booklet of 1522 (which was intended to supplant the Romish prayer-books), writes as follows: "Among many other harmful doctrines and booklets which have seduced and deceived Christians and given rise to countless superst.i.tions, I do not consider as the least the prayer-booklets, by which so much distress of confessing and enumerating sins, such unchristian folly in the prayers to G.o.d and His saints was inculcated upon the unlearned, and which, nevertheless, were highly puffed with indulgences and red t.i.tles, and, in addition, bore precious names, one being called _Hortulus Animae,_ the other _Paradisus Animae,_ and so forth. They are in sore need of a thorough and sound reformation, or to be eradicated entirely, a sentence which I also pa.s.s on the Pa.s.sional or Legend books, to which also a great deal has been added by the devil." (W. 10, 1, 375.)
The _Hortulus Animae,_ which is mentioned even before 1500, was widely circulated at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It embraced all forms of edifying literature. Sebastian Brandt and Jacob Wimpheling helped to compile it. The _Paradisus Animae_ had the same contents, but was probably spread in Latin only. The _Hortulus Animae_ contains very complete rosters of sins and catalogs of virtues for "confessing and enumerating sins." Among the virtues are listed the bodily works of mercy (Matt. 25, 35) and the seven spiritual works of mercy: to instruct the ignorant, give counsel to the doubtful, comfort the afflicted, admonish sinners, pardon adversaries suffer wrong, and forgive the enemies. Among the virtues were counted the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost: wisdom, understanding, ability, kindness, counsel, strength, and fear. Furthermore the three divine virtues: faith, hope and charity. The four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fort.i.tude, and temperance. The eight beat.i.tudes according to Matt. 5, 3ff. The twelve counsels: poverty, obedience, chast.i.ty, love of enemies, meekness, abundant mercy, simplicity of words, not too much care for temporal things, correct purpose and simplicity of deeds, harmony of doctrine and works, fleeing the cause of sin, brotherly admonition. Finally also the seven sacraments. The list of sins contains the nine foreign sins, the six sins against the Holy Ghost, the four sins that cry to G.o.d for vengeance, the five senses the Ten Commandments, and the seven mortal sins: pride, covetousness, unchast.i.ty, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
Each of these mortal sins is again a.n.a.lyzed extensively. The Weimar edition of Luther"s Works remarks: "If these catalogs were employed for self-examination, confusion, endless torment, or complete externalization of the consciousness of sin was bound to result. We can therefore understand why the Reformer inveighs against this "enumerating of sins."" (10, 2, 336.)
The _Hortulus Animae_ also shows how Luther was obliged to purge the Catechism from all manner of "unchristian follies," as he calls them.
For the entire book is pervaded by idolatrous adoration of the saints.
An acrostic prayer to Mary addresses her as _mediatrix, auxiliatrix, reparatrix, illuminatrix, advocatrix._ In English the prayer would read as follows: "O Mary, thou mediator between G.o.d and men, make of thyself the medium between the righteous G.o.d and me, a poor sinner! O Mary, thou helper in all anguish and need, come to my a.s.sistance in all sufferrings, and help me resist and strive against the evil spirits and overcome all my temptations and afflictions. O Mary, thou restorer of lost grace to all men, restore unto me my lost time, my sinful and wasted life! O Mary, thou illuminator, who didst give birth to the eternal Light of the whole world, illumine my blindness and ignorance, lest I, poor sinner that I am, enter the darkness of eternal death. O Mary, thou advocate of all miserable men, be thou my advocate at my last end before the stern judgment of G.o.d, and obtain for me the grace and the fruit of thy womb, Jesus Christ! Amen." Another prayer calls Mary the "mighty queen of heaven, the holy empress of the angels, the one who stays divine wrath." A prayer to the eleven thousand virgins reads as follows: "O ye, adorned with chast.i.ty, crowned with humility, clad with patience, covered with the blossoms of virtue, well polished with moderation--O ye precious pearls and chosen virgin maids, help us in the hour of death!"
With this idolatry and saint-worship silly superst.i.tion was combined. In order to be efficacious, a certain prayer prescribed in the _Hortulus_ must be spoken not only with "true contrition and pure confession," but also "before a figure which had appeared to St. Gregory." Whoever offers a certain prayer "before the image of Our Lady in the Sun" "will not depart this life unshriven, and thirty days before his death will see the very adorable Virgin Mary prepared to help him." Another prayer is good "for pestilence" when spoken "before the image of St. Ann;" another prayer to St. Margaret profits "every woman in travail;" still another preserves him who says it from "a sudden death." All of these promises however, are far surpa.s.sed by the indulgences a.s.sured. The prayer before the apparition of St. Gregory obtains 24,600 years and 24 days of indulgence: another promises "indulgence for as many days as our Lord Jesus Christ received wounds during His pa.s.sion, _viz._ 5,475." Whoever prays the Bridget-prayers not only obtains indulgence for himself, but 15 souls of his kin are thereby delivered from purgatory, 15 sinners converted, and 15 righteous "confirmed and established in their good standing." (W. 10, 2, 334.)
Also in the chart booklets for the Latin schools of the Middle Ages the Ave Maria and Salve Regina played an important part.--Such were the books which, before Luther, were to serve the people as catechisms, or books of instruction and prayer. In them, everything, even what was right and good in itself, such as the Creed, the Lord"s Prayer, and the Decalog, was made to serve Romish superst.i.tion and work-righteousness.
Hence one can easily understand why Luther demanded that they be either thoroughly reformed or eradicated.
Indeed, the dire need of the Church in this respect was felt and lamented by none sooner and more deeply than Luther. Already in his tract _To the Christian n.o.bility of the German Nation,_ 1520, he complained that Christian instruction of the young was being neglected.
He writes: "Above all, the chief and most common lesson in the higher and lower schools ought to be the Holy Scriptures and for the young boys, the Gospel. Would to G.o.d every city had also a school for girls, where the little maids might daily hear the Gospel for an hour, either in German or in Latin! Truly, in the past the schools and convents for men and women were founded for this purpose, with very laudable Christian intention, as we read of St. Agnes and other saints. There grew up holy virgins and martyrs, and Christendom fared very well. But now it amounts to nothing more than praying and singing. Ought not, indeed, every Christian at the age of nine or ten years know the entire holy Gospel, in which his name and life is written? Does not the spinner and the seamstress teach the same handicraft to her daughter when she is still young? But now even the great men, the learned prelates and bishops, do not know the Gospel. How unjustly do we deal with the poor youth entrusted to us, failing, as we do, to govern and instruct them!
What a severe reckoning will be required of us because we do not set before them the Word of G.o.d! For unto them is done as Jeremiah says, Lam. 2, 11. 12: "Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine?
when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers" bosom." But we do not see the wretched misery, how the young people, in the midst of Christendom, now also languish and perish miserably for lack of the Gospel, in which they should always be instructed and drilled." (W. 6, 461; E. 21, 349.)
88. Church Visitation Reveals Deplorable Ignorance.
The Saxon Visitation brought to light such a total decay of all Christian knowledge and of Christian instruction as even Luther had not antic.i.p.ated. Aside from other evils (clergymen cohabiting with their cooks, addicted to drink, or even conducting taverns, etc.), the people, especially in the villages, were found to be grossly ignorant of even the simplest rudiments of Christian doctrine and most unwilling to learn anything, while many pastors were utterly incompetent to teach.
According to the official records, one priest, who enjoyed a great reputation as an exorcist, could not even recite the Lord"s Prayer and the Creed fluently. (Koestlin, _Martin Luther,_ 2, 41.) Luther took part in the visitation of the Electoral circuit from the end of October till after the middle of November, 1528, and again from the end of December, 1528, till January, 1529, and on April 26, 1529, at Torgau, he, too, signed the report on visitation. When Luther therefore describes the decay of instruction in Popery, he speaks from personal experience.
About the middle of January, 1529, he wrote to Spalatin: "Moreover, conditions in the congregations everywhere are pitiable, inasmuch as the peasants learn nothing, know nothing, never pray, do nothing but abuse their liberty, make no confession, receive no communion, as if they had been altogether emanc.i.p.ated from religion. They have neglected their papistical affairs (ours they despise) to such extent that it is terrible to contemplate the administration of the papal bishops."
(Enders 7, 45.) The intense heartache and mingled feelings which came over Luther when he thought of the ignorance which he found during the visitation, are described in the Preface to the Small Catechism as follows: "The deplorable miserable condition which I discovered lately when I, too, was a visitor, has forced and urged me to prepare this Catechism, or Christian doctrine, in this small, plain, simple form.
Mercy! Good G.o.d! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable, and incompetent to teach. Nevertheless, all maintain that they are Christians, all have been baptized and receive the holy Sacrament. Yet they cannot recite either the Lord"s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments, they live like dumb brutes and irrational swine; and yet now that the Gospel has come, they have nicely learned to abuse all liberty like experts. O ye bishops! what will ye ever answer to Christ for having so shamefully neglected the people and never for a moment discharged your office? May all misfortune flee you! You command the Sacrament in one form and insist on your human laws, and yet at the same time you do not care in the least whether the people know the Lord"s Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or any part of the Word of G.o.d.
Woe, woe, unto you forever!" (533, 1ff.)
To these experiences made during the visitation, Luther also refers when he says in the Short Preface to the Large Catechism: "For I well remember the time, indeed, even now it is a daily occurrence that one finds rude old persons who knew nothing and still know nothing of these things, and who, nevertheless, go to Baptism and the Lord"s Supper, and use everything belonging to Christians, notwithstanding that those who come to the Lord"s Supper ought to know more and have a fuller understanding of all Christian doctrine than children and new scholars."
(575, 5.) In his "Admonition to the Clergy" of 1530, Luther describes the conditions before the Reformation as follows: "In brief, preaching and teaching were in a wretched and heart-rending state. Still all the bishops kept silence and saw nothing new, although they are now able to see a gnat in the sun. Hence all things were so confused and wild, owing to the discordant teaching and the strange new opinions, that no one was any longer able to know what was certain or uncertain, what was a Christian or an unchristian. The old doctrine of faith in Christ, of love, of prayer, of cross, of comfort in tribulation was entirely trodden down. Aye, there was in all the world no doctor who knew the entire Catechism, that is, the Lord"s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Creed, to say nothing of understanding and teaching it, as now, G.o.d be praised, it is being taught and learned, even by young children. In support of this statement I appeal to all their books, both of theologians and jurists. If a single part of the Catechism can be correctly learned therefrom, I am ready to be broken upon the wheel and to have my veins opened." (W. 30, 1, 301.)
Melanchthon, Jonas, Brenz, George of Anhalt, Mathesius, and many others draw a similar picture of the religious conditions prevailing in Germany, England, and other lands immediately prior to the Reformation.
To be sure, Papists, particularly Jesuits, have disputed the accuracy and truth of these descriptions from the pen of Luther and his contemporaries. But arrayed against these Romish apologetes is also the testimony of Papists themselves. In his _Catholicus Catechismus,_ published at Cologne, 1543, Nausea writes: "I endeavored to renew the instruction, once well known among all churches, which, however, not only recently, but long ago (I do not know to whose stupidity, negligence, or ignorance this was due) was altogether forgotten, not without lamentable loss to the catholic religion. _Veterem illam catechesin, per omnes quondam ecclesias percelebrem non modo tum, sed et ante pridem, nescio quorum vel socordia vel negligentia vel ignorantia, non sine poenitenda catholicae religionis iactura prorsus in oblivionem coeptam repetere coepi_." (W. 30, 1, 467.) Moreover, when Romanists dispute Luther"s a.s.sertions, they refer to the one point only, that religious instruction (as conceived by Catholics) had not declined in the measure claimed by Luther. As to the chief point in Luther"s a.s.sertion, however, _viz._, the correct Evangelical explanation of the Catechism, which, in Luther"s opinion, is essential to all truly Christian instruction, the Catholic Church has always been utterly devoid of it not only prior to the Reformation, but also after it, and down to the present day. True, even during the Reformation some Papists were incited to greater zeal in preaching and teaching. It was a reaction against the Reformation of Luther, who must be regarded as the indirect cause also of the formal improvement in the instruction of the young among the Romanists. To maintain their power, bishops and priests were compelled to resume and cultivate it. This revival, however, meant only an intensified instruction in the old work-righteousness, and therefore was the very opposite of the instruction which Luther desired and advocated. In the Apology, Melanchthon, after charging the Papists with totally neglecting the instruction of the young, continues: "A few among them now also begin to preach of good works. But of the knowledge of Christ, of faith, of the consolation of consciences they are unable to preach anything, moreover, this blessed doctrine, the precious holy Gospel, they call Lutheran." (326, 44.)
89. Luther Devising Measures to Restore Catechism.
Fully realizing the general decay of Christian training, Luther at once directed all his efforts toward bringing about a change for the better.
And well aware of the fact that the future belongs to the rising generation, the instruction of the common people, and particularly of the young, became increasingly an object of his especial concern. If the Church, said he, is to be helped, if the Gospel is to be victorious, if the Reformation is to succeed, if Satan and Antichrist are to be dealt a mortal blow, a blow from which they will not recover, it must be done through the young. For every cause which is not, or cannot be made, the cause of the rising generation, is doomed from the very outset. "This is the total ruin of the Church," said Luther as early as 1516; "for if ever it is to flourish again, one must begin by instructing the young.
_Haec est enim ecclesiae ruina tota; si enim unquam debet reflorere, necesse est ut a puerorum inst.i.tutione exordium fiat._" (W. 1, 494.) For, apart from being incapable of much improvement, the old people would soon disappear from the scene. Hence, if Christianity and its saving truths were to be preserved to the Church, the children must learn them from earliest youth.
In his Large Catechism Luther gave utterance to these thoughts as follows: "Let this, then, be said for exhortation, not only for those of us who are old and grown, but also for the young people, who ought to be brought up in the Christian doctrine and understanding. For thereby the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord"s Prayer might be the more easily inculcated upon our youth, so that they would receive them with pleasure and earnestness, and thus would practise them from their youth and accustom themselves to them. For the old are now well-nigh done for, so that these and other things cannot be attained, unless we train the people who are to come after us and succeed us in our office and work, in order that they also may bring up their children successfully, that the Word of G.o.d and the Christian Church may be preserved. Therefore let every father of a family know that it is his duty, by the injunction and command of G.o.d, to teach these things to his children, or have them learn what they ought to know." (773, 85.)
A thorough and lasting revival of the Catechism can be hoped for only through the young--such were Luther"s convictions. Accordingly he implored and adjured pastors and parents not to refuse their help in this matter. In the Preface to his Small Catechism we read: "Therefore I entreat you all for G.o.d"s sake, my dear sirs and brethren, who are pastors or preachers, to devote yourselves heartily to your office, to have pity on the people who are entrusted to you, and to help us inculcate the Catechism upon the people, especially upon the young."
(533, 6.) And as he earnestly admonished the pastors, so he also tenderly invited them to be faithful in this work. He was firmly convinced that nothing except the Gospel, as rediscovered and preached by himself, was able to save men. How, then, could he remain silent or abandon this work because of the hatred and ungratefulness of men! It was this new frame of mind, produced by the Gospel, to which Luther appealed in the interest of the Catechism. "Therefore look to it, ye pastors and preachers," says he, concluding the Preface to his Small Catechism. "Our office is now become a different thing from what it was under the Pope; it is now become serious and salutary. Accordingly it now involves much more trouble and labor, danger and trials, and in addition thereto secures but little reward and grat.i.tude in the world.
But Christ Himself will be our reward if we labor faithfully." (539, 26.)